Brent had a one-on-one routine with his boss Gail in her office. In the six months since he’d joined his organization, Brent had noticed something different about Gail knowledge to his previous bosses.
“Gail, can I ask you a question?” Brent asked.
“Certainly.”
“When you share your wisdom with others, you’re very transparent, even willing to admit when you were wrong about something. That’s very different from other bosses I’ve had. How did you get there?”
“Good question,” she said. “I learned a long time ago that wisdom is extremely valuable. Seeking it and sharing it can make the difference between success and failure. Since I care deeply not only about my success but also the success of others, I decided I had to be willing not just seek the wisdom of others, but share my wisdom openly with others to increase their chances of success. I adopted what I call a wisdom manager mindset.”
“Wisdom Steward?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Gail said just as her phone rang. She looked at the message. “Damn, I have something to prepare for the board meeting in an hour. Can we continue the conversation about the butler of wisdom during our one-on-one next week?’
“Sure,” Brent said.
“Okay, see you later then.”
Brent got up and went back to his cubicle. “A wise butler?” he thought to himself as he sat in his chair.
So what is a steward of wisdom? To understand the concept, you must first understand the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is facts and information obtained from various sources. You can gain insights from a book, a discussion, the news, or personal experience. Wisdom is what you do with that knowledge. You cannot have wisdom without knowledge, but you can certainly have knowledge without wisdom.
Let’s look at touching a hot stove as an example. If you touch a hot stove, you know it is hot and you will burn your hand if you touch it. Wisdom is making a wise decision based on the knowledge that the stove is on. If you don’t touch the stove a second time, you are applying wisdom to knowledge. If you touch the stove and get burned again, you have not applied wisdom to the knowledge you had. So knowledge is knowing that the stove is hot; wisdom is deciding not to touch it.
Next, let’s talk about how wisdom is obtained. Wisdom can be gained through guided or first-hand experience. First-hand experience is the example of the stove. Guided experience is gained by learning from others. Bill told me that he touched the hot stove and burned his hand so I didn’t touch the hot stove. You have gained wisdom not because you have done something firsthand; you learned from someone else’s experience. In both cases you were right not to touch the stove, but in one you learned it yourself and in the other you learned it from someone else.
Now let’s see how this relates to the stewardship of wisdom. For guided wisdom to work, there must be two parties involved. The first is the seeker of wisdom. A seeker of wisdom is humble and sincerely seeks the wisdom of others to help him make a wise decision. The second is the divider of wisdom. The wisdom sharer is transparent and candidly offers wisdom gained firsthand or learned from others to help the seeker make a wise decision. A wisdom steward is one who values both the sincere pursuit and transparent sharing of wisdom.
Are you a steward of wisdom? Ask yourself these questions:
Do you understand the difference between knowledge and wisdom?
When faced with a problem, do you sincerely and humbly seek out those who have the wisdom to help you overcome the problem?
If you seek wisdom, do you seek it with the intention of learning from others or proving others wrong?
Do you make yourself accessible to others who want to learn from your wisdom?
If someone wants to learn from your wisdom, are you transparent and honest in sharing, even if it means admitting mistakes?
Do you think it’s important to embrace each other’s success, or do you do it for yourself?
Do you see wisdom as something valuable and worthy of being treated with care and respect?
Do you want to see what a steward of wisdom looks like, a boaster, a fraud, a hoarder, a waverer, and a pontificator? View the book Behind Golden Doors: Five Easy Steps to Becoming a Wisdom Steward
